FA Cup 3rd Round: Woking FC’s greatest day and their matches with Bracknell Town

The FA Cup 3rd Round gets underway at the weekend, and while we don’t have any clubs in it – we can latch on to Woking FC and their incredible 1990/91 run.

At the time, Woking were an Isthmian Premier Division side (what would be the Ryman League Premier these days) while West Brom were struggling in in Division 2 of the Football League (now the Championship) and doomed to relegation into the third division just four months later.

Woking’s cup run, victory over the Baggies and subsequent fourth round defeat at Goodison Park to Everton went down in folklore and made players like Tim Buzaglo and manager Geoff Chapple into household names.

In case you can’t see the West Brom/Woking highlights at the top of the page, here’s the video:

An incredible rise

What you might not know is that just five seasons before, the Cards were beaten to promotion from Division 2 South of the Isthmian League by none other than Bracknell Town.

The game at Larges Lane was, according to the Woking programme notes ‘a very dull game. Bracknell scored two gifted goals withing the first half hour and after that the game was very forgettable.’ – it doesn’t mention the score.

Bracknell were promoted at the end of the season as runners-up on 81 points while the Cards finished third three points behind.

It’s probably a bit of a stretch to say that losing out on promotion to Bracknell spurred Woking on to FA Cup glory, but we’re going to join the dots anyway..

Woking went two better the following season, beginning their ascent up the leagues with the Two South Championship, they finished third the following season (Bracknell were 19th and relegated).

Woking against West Bromwich Albion in the 1990/91 FA Cup. Photo via @cardinal_tales

Laying the foundation for what was to come, the Cards were promoted to the Isthmian Premier at the end of the 1989/90 season.

Swapping players

From that 1991 cup run, supporters at Larges Lane were blessed with the talents of Mark Franks who moved across to Berkshire along with Bradley Pratt who made several appearances.

Who we are

FootballinBracknell is Tom Canning and Darrell Freeland.

Better known as TC and Dudley, the pair spent nearly 10 years running and contributing to bracknelltownfc.com and have struck out on their own covering football in Bracknell and the surrounding areas, from Semi Pro to Sunday League. You can read more about us here.